Some critics say the company switched from standard Phillips and Torx screws to proprietary pentalobe screws to thwart DIY fixes and keep consumers relying on Apple repair services.

iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens went so far as to title a blog post on the matter "Apple's Diabolical Plan to Screw Your iPhone." "Apple chose this fastener specifically because it was new, guaranteeing repair tools would be both rare and expensive. Shame on them," he wrote.

Granted, a good number of gadgeteers--likely including many Crave readers--feel strongly about having the right to open up gear at will to remove and replace batteries, memory, and drivers (or just have a good look at the inner workings).

But as one tech service rep who posted on ipodnn pointed out, a surprising number of people open up their gadgets before bringing them in for warranty service, leading to more damage than the problem that led them to open up the machine in the first place.

Whatever Cupertino's motivation for switching to the more rare pentalobe screws (we're still waiting to hear back from the company in its own words), some say Apple should be able to do whatever it damn pleases with its products. After all, no one's forcing people to buy them.

So which side of the debate are you on? Do you support Apple's move to use tamper-resistant screws on iPhones and MacBooks? Or do you think it's screwing over its customers? Vote in our poll.

About the author

Leslie Katz, Crave's senior editor, heads up a team that covers the most crushworthy (and wackiest) tech, science, and culture around. As a co-host of the now-retired CNET News Daily Podcast, she was sometimes known to channel Terry Gross and still uses her trained "podcast voice" to bully the speech recognition software on automated customer service lines. E-mail Leslie.
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